It has long been known that suspended signal lights, signs, and banners at intersections are sometimes difficult to see by a driver without hyper extending or “craning” the neck if the vehicle is too close to the overhead object. The prior art reveals several solutions to this difficulty, but none of the solutions have had commercial success.
A sampling of the relevant prior art follows. Two early patents utilize substantial prism lenses to refract the view above the vehicle into the viewscape of the driver in a normal driving position. The signal viewing attachment of David (U.S. Pat. No. 1,637,309) attaches a semi-circular, plano-sphero-concave lens to a central location in front of the driver a few inches down from the top edge of the windshield. A permanent internal attachment is made using transparent cement. The traffic signal observer of Buttron (U.S. Pat. No. 1,683,951) consists of a triangular crossection prism several inches long which is attached by rigid brackets either to the dash below the lower edge of the windshield, or to the steering column by clamping means.
A multiple use automobile banner by Timpson et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 6,640,477) shows a repositional and reusable automobile advertising banner that stretches across the entire windshield near the top edge. The intent behind the Timpson banner is to enable a car dealership to permit potential customers to take test drives with the banner attached for promotional purposes. As the banner is transparent, its use in the driver's field of view does not violate DOT prohibitions against obstructions to the driver's field of view. The banner is positioned so that it does not extend below 6″ from the top edge of the windshield, which is another DOT restriction. The banner is attached to the outer surface of the windshield by static cling whereinafter dealership personnel can write price and other promotional information on the banner conveniently against the solid and substantially planar windshield surface. While this is not a driver vision field extender, some size and attachment features relate to the present invention.
A signal viewing device of Gadberry (U.S. Pat. No. 6,108,141) uses a vinyl Fresnel-type prism lens. Gadberry's drawings show generally circular concentric prism lines mounted on the inside upper edge of the windshield to extend the driver's field of view. The prism lens is in the general shape of a circular concentric segment. The Gadberry device (i.e., prism lens) is configured to be mounted by wetting the back side of the vinyl lens and then squeezing the water film from the interface between lens and windshield. The length and width of the Gadberry device appear to be about 8′ and 2″, respectively.